I Am a Taxi (The Cocalero Novels) [Paperback]

Deborah Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: The Cocalero Novels

For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the government’s war on drugs. Diego’s adjusted to his new life. His parents are locked up, but he can come and go: to school, to the market to sell his mother’s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a “taxi," running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situation make him vulnerable to his friend Mando’s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation. As his situation becomes more and more dangerous, he knows he must take a terrible risk if he ever wants to see his family again.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–Ellis's novel attempts to expose the strains that cocaine production and trade and the U.S War on Drugs have placed on Bolivians. Diego's parents have been wrongfully incarcerated for drug smuggling. While they serve their 16-year sentences, the 12-year-old, who would otherwise be homeless, lives in the women's prison with his mother and younger sister. He earns money as a taxi, running errands in the city for the prisoners. One day his friend convinces him that they can make easier money working for men who turn out to be involved in cocaine manufacturing. The boys are enslaved in the jungle, Diego's friend dies, and Diego barely escapes with his life. This harrowing part of the narrative is somewhat rushed and is less convincing than the rest. Nonetheless, because of its unusual setting and subject matter, and Ellis's efforts to explicate complex social, political, and economic issues, this book should find a place in larger collections.–Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Diego, 12, lives in prison in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, stuck there with his parents, who have been falsely arrested for smuggling drugs. He attends school and works as a "taxi," running errands for the inmates in the great street market. Then his friend, Mando, persuades him to make big money, and the boys find themselves stomping coca leaves in cocaine pits in the jungle, with local gangsters and a smooth boss who supplies "hungry noses" in America. Readers will be caught up by the nonstop action in the prison, and also in the jungle survival adventure, where escape is tempered by the specter of death. The connection between medicinal coca leaves, sacred to the indigenous people, and their exploitation by the global drug runners is not entirely clear, but, as in The Breadwinner (2001) and many of her previous books, Ellis tells a bold story of contemporary kids in crisis and brutally exploited far away. A sequel is on the way. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Groundwood Books (February 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888997361
• ISBN-13: 978-0888997364
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Drugs
  • #27 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Social Issues > Drug Use & Abuse > Fiction
  • #30 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > Drugs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lived in South America..., January 20, 2007

By 

Last Mango (UT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Am a Taxi (Hardcover)

This book is an interesting and engrossing read. I'm not certain that younger readers (for which the cover, in particular, seems to be aimed)will "get" it, but the action makes for quite a page-turner, and the subject matter is very thought provoking. The author includes some anti-American and anti-religion undertones which I find a bit annoying, and although she does explain that the cocaine extraction process is different from the coca tea itself, the reader is left cheering for the humble coca farmers. Once again, I hope youthful readers make the distinctions, and that the "bad guy" is cocaine use and not necessarily the U.S. In any case, this book could be a great read-aloud, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

5.0 out of 5 stars The most interesting book I've read with my kids in the last 12 months, February 13, 2009

By 

Tracy Foote "Author: Kid's ROTH IRA Handbook:... (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Am a Taxi (The Cocalero Novels) (Paperback)

All three of my children commented on this catchy unusual title, expressing doubt that it could possibly be of any interest to them (ages 10, 12, and 14), "What is that? Who checked that out of the library?"

Having traveled to Bolivia, I couldn't wait to begin reading it aloud to my youngest before bed. We were not disappointed and I've tossed it to the next child, insisting she read it as she is interested in traveling to South America.

The book is quick paced, includes a few Spanish words (Saltenas, Chupe, tc.) and a good glossary for assistance is at the end. Many simple aspects of the Spanish culture were touched on, such as religion (whether the Angel Gabriel will actually come and open the prison doors, lighting church candles) and explaining the Quechua VS Aymara Indians. Descriptive paragraphs of the laundry hanging to dry, bowler hats, merchants in the markets, and more made me envision being back on a village street in Bolivia.

Diego is smart, cautious, and asks many questions. There is much emphasis on maintaining composure, loyalty, surviving, and not showing one's fear. I did not interpret any underlying messages, anti-American tones, or otherwise. It is often said in South America, "The bus comes when it comes...." and perhaps, due to my travels through Bolivia and Peru, I have a different attitude of... Life is what it is...and this story about a boy, is what it is - the struggle and challenges of his life. Highly recommend.

Tracy Foote
Author: Let's Go Up! Climbing Machu Picchu, Putucusi and Huayna Picchu
Let's Go Up! Climbing Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu and Putucusi or A Peru Travel Trip Hiking One of the Seven Wonders of the World: An Inca City Discovered ... the Andes Mountains (Multilingual Edition)